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Syndriel Vas/Backstory
Syndriel Vas was born of a tiefling father and an elven mother in the city of Zhagroit. Davozkra Vas, his father, was a cruel and demanding higher-up in a small guild which was ruled by an even more ruthless individual. Syndriel was born of one of their elven servants/slaves/operatives and forced to work for them doing menial chores until he was of age to be interacting with the townsfolk. Life in the guild was hard, and he was not treated well. His comforts were few, but in his early childhood the greatest of them was the human child of another guild member, a girl named Anya Kalumm. She was about 5 years older, and the two children became as close as siblings to each other. Anya was compassionate and thoughtful, and above all she was driven by a need to survive. She worked as a pickpocket for the guild, and frequently spied on its members with her talent for stealth and hiding. A good person at heart, Syndriel did his best to escape the realities of his situation, mostly with the aid of a panpipe he discovered in the streets as a child. His musical talent was clear, and as a gift on a whim his father bought him a wooden flute. He quickly learned the basics, and soon became known throughout the guild as the “piper brat”. He used his talent to earn a small income playing in the streets and in taverns throughout the city, which mostly went into the guild’s coffers. His charm and talent saved him here; had he not earned as much as he did, he would be forced into apprenticeship under the guild’s sadistic and self-serving operatives, or exiled from their ranks. His talent and charm later helped him further, after one particular noble took special interest in the young tiefling and offered him a decent sum to play music at a small soiree he was hosting. This introduction to high society went quite well, as most of the guests were charmed by the then-15-year-old musician, and Syndriel was invited to many other such parties of the upper-class, sometimes as a musician and sometimes as a guest. He picked up the mannerisms of the nobility and was soon socializing with the young heirs of each household as if he was one of their own. He even received a present from his original benefactor after a couple of years in the form of a beautiful viol, carved with elvish designs and script. When his father learned of Syndriel’s introduction into high society, he was very pleased, and demanded that Syndriel use such opportunities to learn all he could of their legal matters so he could forge documents and seals for the guild. Having no choice, Syndriel did so, but always downplayed his abilities in that regard so he would not be asked to use them. Happy with his son’s income, Davozkra allowed him to become a full-fledged member of the guild and began to subtly pull strings, hoping one day to have a loyal second-in-command in his talented child. Yet Syndriel had no desire to remain. After witnessing the torture and near-rape of a prisoner of theirs as the guild extracted information on the movements of their rival guild, the young tiefling decided he had to escape when possible. Anya was already chafing under her servitude in the guild, and when Syndriel approached her about the possibility of escape he found that she had already been working towards it, stealing small amounts of coin where they wouldn’t be missed and gathering supplies. Anya was far more capable in this regard, and she instructed Syndriel to draw the attention of his superiors and the guild’s gossip to himself and act the part of a rising prodigy. Together, they continued to work over several years to construct a complete and untraceable escape. As Syndriel grew, his innate powers as a tiefling grew stronger and broader, manifesting one day as Syndriel accidentally set fire to a senior guildmate who was torturing an old woman for information that she did not have. The tiefling might have been killed for his traitorous act then and there, but thanks to his silver tongue and Davozkra’s intervention, he was instead asked (forced) to study the arcane and further his knowledge of magic, to be a better asset to the guild. Syndriel was watched much more closely after that, and he seldom dared to speak with Anya lest he cast suspicion on her as well. Lonely and depressed, Syndriel began to seek other ways to escape his existence, mostly through seeking the company of men (and the occasional woman) by night in the city. He played well the part of the talented scoundrel, and though he abhorred the guild and his pretense of ambition for their ranks, he sometimes found it hard to say where his confident acting ended and his true nature began. At last when he was about 21 Anya came to him, having made everything ready. They timed their escape so that both were out by night in the city, Syndriel at a party with many young nobles and Anya on a solo heist mission. Anya intentionally triggered the extensive and destructive magical trap system of the wizard she was stealing from to fake her own death, and then aided her adoptive brother in staging his getting mugged and dragged away in the sight of one of his noble friends. With their ties severed and armed with Anya’s research and survival skills, both of them escaped the area as quickly as possible, with Anya leading the way through the countryside. They eventually reached a far city (Southold?) where they settled, renting a room with the coin Syndriel made as a performer. As he began to make new connections and befriend the higher-class of the city, he discovered a bard who was willing to teach him how to control his magic. He began learning these lessons, taking to them quite quickly. They might have done well for themselves there had not an operative from their old guild come into town. It was Anya who learned of the operative’s presence, and while she did not get close enough to learn of their purpose in the town, they both decided it was better to leave again. Reluctantly, they also agreed to part ways to better throw off any pursuit, just in case. Anya went farther north, taking a job as an accountant for a well-to-do merchant, while Syndriel made his way to Arcton, where he heard a rumor of work with a younger, smaller guild; perhaps there he could escape the notice of any of his father’s agents, practice his skills, and be offered some semblance of protection as well...